A bathrobe made from a man's coat followed a crepe dress made with motifs of an undergarment.

The numerous long fur coats—some of the most luxurious seen this season —provided the glam-factor. Mink coats dyed in two tones and murky-colored astrakhan were stand outs—as well as crocodile bags lined with sheared mink, lashings of marabou feathers and hand-curled goose feathers.

"All sorts of creatures were lying around in embroidered form," joked Jacobs, who may indeed be responsible for emptying a local zoo.

Dresses made with quilted coat fabric, sometimes with large buttons and long zippers, saw Prada putting her own quirky stamp on an outerwear-to-innerware trend that's on high rotation on the catwalk of late.

The piece de resistance was a one-meter (three-foot) handbag that had spectators gawking.

ELIE SAAB

As models appeared through autumnal mist, Elie Saab's daywear picked up a hint of androgyny this fall-winter.

It was a relatively experimental start that saw the Lebanese designer deliver some sexy looks that could almost have been worn to the office.

Menswear tailoring on a gray and blue dress carried on in several pared-down looks with a slimmer silhouette than last season, created with a more restrained color wheel.

The whiff of masculinity soon faded, however, in a series of the Lebanese designer's popular bread-and-butter gowns with sequins, transparencies and broderie anglaise in primrose yellow, burgundy and dark green.

It was a collection of no great surprises, that's likely to please his core clientele base.

VIONNET

The late, great Madeline Vionnet was one of the 20th century's most influential fashion designers. Known as the "queen of the bias cut," she was famed for her draped Grecian column dresses.

Seven decades later, her house has been revamped and showed its ready-to-wear collection on Paris' official calendar Wednesday.

The problem with revamping old, storied houses is that the new designers can often feel strangled by the codes.

Wednesday's show saw creative director Goga Ashkenazi going in almost the opposite direction.

Though she fleetingly touched on some draped looks with Grecian columns for a set, Ashkenazi channeled the vivid colors of pop art's Roy Lichtenstein. It was a show with a distinct '80s vibe in severely folded coats and dresses.

"The history is tremendous. But we wanted to move it a step forward and see the modern interpretation," Ashkenazi said.

There were some neat looks, like a thick ribbed high-necked sweater in blue. However, some of the vaguely bias-cut shaped furs that were assembled together made the collection feel like it needed further developing.